LOS ANGELES, CA – MARCH 29: Writer/producer Dan Schneider (C) accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award onstage with actors Maree Cheatham and Christopher Massey onstage during Nickelodeon’s 27th Annual Kids’ Choice Awards held at USC Galen Center on March 29, 2014 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
OAN’s Abril Elfi
12:00 PM – Thursday, May 2, 2024
Dan Schneider has filed a defamation lawsuit against the producers of Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV docuseries.
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On Wednesday, Schneider’s attorneys filed the lawsuit, claiming that filmmakers behind the series “falsely state or imply that Schneider sexually abused the children who worked on his television shows.”
“‘Quiet on Set’s’ portrayal of Schneider is a hit job,” the suit alleges.
Schneider is suing filmmakers Emma Schwartz, Mary Robertson, Warner Brothers Discovery, Inc., Maxine Productions, and Sony Pictures Television Inc.
After the docuseries was released, Schneider released a statement regarding the lawsuit, saying that he is “apologetic and regretful” for behavior as a producer and “will continue to take accountability for it,” but has “no choice but to take legal action against the people behind” the series.
“In their successful attempt to mislead viewers and increase ratings, they went beyond reporting the truth and falsely implied that I was involved in or facilitated horrific crimes for which actual child predators have been prosecuted and convicted,” he said.
In the suit, Schneider points out specific details from several episodes in the Quiet on Set trailer, claiming that the series “implies that Schneider is a criminal and child sexual abuser.”
The former Nickelodeon television producer describes specific instances from the Quiet on Set trailer in which he claims to have been defamed. The suit alleges that the trailer “doubles down on the implication that Schneider is not only a criminal in some way connected to children, but an abuser — or more specifically, a child sexual abuser.” The lawsuit further alleges that the trailer makes erroneous inferences.
In the lawsuit, Schneider maintains that the series falsely charges him with child abuse on the set of his shows. In particular, Schneider claims that in episodes one, two, and five of Quiet on Set, he is accused of sexual abuse.
According to the lawsuit, episode 2 of the show suggests that Schneider was a “convicted felon and child sexual abuser,” drawing comparisons between him and other employees working with the network who were accused and charged of similar offenses, such as former dialogue coach Brian Peck, who molested and allegedly raped actor Drake Bell when he was a very young child actor at Nickelodeon.
When Bell’s father grew suspicious of Peck’s creepy behavior towards his son, Peck began accusing the dad of being “homophobic” towards him. Peck even convinced Bell that his protective father was becoming a nuisance on set, hurting his career, and stealing his money, in order to push him away from his son.
Following his arrest in 2003, Peck faced 11 charges, including “lewd acts with a child” and minor sexual abuse. In Quiet on Set, Bell made his initial public statement as the John Doe victim in the Peck case.
The suit claims in episode 5 that filmmakers purposefully used Schneider’s image to conflate the actions of Schneider with convicted sex offenders.
“The Trailer and ‘Quiet on Set’s’ statements and/or implications are false. Schneider never committed, nor has he been charged or convicted with committing, a criminal act toward a child,” the suit states. “Schneider never sexually abused a child, nor has he been charged or convicted with sexually abusing a child. The Trailer and Quiet on Set’s statements and implications to the contrary are both false and made with reckless and malicious disregard for the truth.”
In an interview with former “iCarly” actor and current youtuber BooG!e, which was shared on Schneider’s YouTube page on March 19th, the former television mogul addressed some of the accusations about him and said that the series made him feel “awful and regretful and sorry.”
“I wish I could go back,” Schneider said. “Especially to those earlier years of my career, and bring the growth and the experience that I have now and just do a better job and never, ever feel like it was okay to be an a—— ever,”
Schneider also recognized that some of the jokes he was making on set may have gone “beyond the pale” and that he wishes he could “go back and fix that.”
In his statement on Wednesday regarding the lawsuit, Schneider said, “I have no objection to anyone highlighting my failures as a boss, but it is wrong to mislead millions of people to the false conclusion that I was in any way involved in heinous acts like those committed by child predators.”
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